


Ending Up Where You Need to Be

by LexiWritesThings, plaidshirt



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Magic, Egobang - Freeform, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Polygrumps, just set at Hogwarts, not Harry Potter generation, the Game Grumps fanfic that needed to be written
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-26
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-01 10:52:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4017019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LexiWritesThings/pseuds/LexiWritesThings, https://archiveofourown.org/users/plaidshirt/pseuds/plaidshirt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." --Douglas Adams</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dan Avidan, half-blood and proud of it, must transfer to Hogwarts for his seventh and final year of schooling following his father's hiring at the British Ministry of Magic. He's a pretty adaptable guy, but even he can't put a positive spin on such a massive life change. </p><p>Enter Arin Hanson and a myriad of others.</p><p>If Dan knows one thing, it's that he is <i>so</i> not at Beauxbatons anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! We are so excited to be posting this Game Grumps Hogwarts AU. Hope you all love this collab as much as we do. Updates should be semi-frequent as the both of us are out of classes for the next three months.

“Come on, the ceremony’s gonna start soon!”

 

“Don’t run, the boats can’t even be halfway across the damn lake yet.”

 

“Yeah, and maybe there’s been an accident and one of the kids fell out, like someone we know—”

 

“Are you ever going to let me live that down?”

 

The group of loud students passed Dan by, laughing and reminiscing together in a clump. Dan heaved a sigh and continued to follow the constant stream of chattering teenagers into the Great Hall, feeling awkward and out of place as he walked silently alone.  

 

Being the new kid at school always sucked. Being a seventh year new student at a school that taught magic—now that was the pinnacle of suck. And that most massively sucky situation was the one that Dan currently found himself in. Having previously studied at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a massive change of scenery.

 

Dan had quite liked Beauxbatons; the beautiful scenery of France, decent teachers who seemed to know what they were doing, and, most importantly, a large group of friends. When Dan’s father had been offered a job at the British Ministry, the seventeen year old had been forced to say goodbye to his friends of six years. He wasn’t sure what was worse: saying goodbye, or the fact that he hadn’t gotten a single owl from any of his friends in over three months.

 

He wasn't one to be a pessimist though. A few people had already said one or two words to him on the train after overhearing him speaking rushed French on the platform with his parents. In Dan's case, French was actually his second language, having been raised in a home with an American mother and a French father.

 

Entering the Great Hall for the first time, Dan couldn't help but smile a bit. The ceiling was lit up to match the starry night sky and dotted with magicked candles. He followed the crowd into what he assumed would be the sorting ceremony, as a ragged old hat sat on top of a stool at the front of the room. Having previously met with the headmistress, he had already been appointed a house as they apparently liked to keep the sorting ceremony to the first years. The hat had grumbled a bit before declaring him a Hufflepuff, although he had little idea of what that actually entailed. Upon noticing his confusion, Dan had been given a basic rundown on each of the houses. Though he still held little understanding for why it was necessary to sort the students into such groups, as at Beauxbatons they had simply been assigned roommates, he still found the idea fun. At any rate, he liked the concept of already having people to call his own in some manner.

 

Seating himself at the Hufflepuff table, draped proudly in yellow and black, Dan was finally presented the opportunity to properly take in his surroundings without the fear of being in the way of the other students around him. Looking around, he pulled out a crumpled ball from his pocket and unfurled it. Scrawled across the ripped piece of parchment, he had listed the houses.

 

“Slytherin: snakes,” the paper read. He saw a table decorated with green and a steely grey-silver, the symbol of a snake adorning their robes. Raking his eyes over the students seated at this table, he noticed that there were a good number of them who looked rather snooty, the kind of kids who turned their nose at most anything. Mostly, though, the students appeared to be laughing amongst one another. He noticed one girl in particular, primarily for her odd hair, which was mostly dark save for a platinum streak across the bangs.

 

Next on his list was Gryffindor, which had “lion” scrawled messily next to it. He quickly identified them as well, not so much by their red and gold mascot, but more so by their general loudness. Dan had been warned that the Gryffindors were the outgoing, more brash house and he could definitely see where that stereotype came from. The other houses, while they were speaking loudly, were a bit reserved. The Gryffindor table seemed to produce a dull roar all their own, laughing and shouting above the voices of the other houses. Dan smiled to himself; they acted a bit like his old group of friends.

 

Through the process of elimination, he assumed the table flooded with blue and bronze was Ravenclaw. They seemed the most serious of the houses, generally much quieter than the others. While some seemed as though they were too preoccupied with scoffing at the noise of the Gryffindors to do much else, a good number of them seemed happy to socialize amongst themselves.

 

Finally, Danny's eyes settled onto his own house, looking around himself to take in the students that he would be coexisting with for the next year. Many chatted jovially with each other, pleasant smiles adorning their faces. He had been warned that Hufflepuff was the softest of the houses in many ways, and it appeared a few of his housemates were rather shy. Dan himself couldn't fault them, he wasn't exactly putting himself out there either.

 

Soon, a great hush came over the room and the first years began pouring in. The ceremony had begun. It was fun, watching the looks of surprise and happiness on each student as they were sorted , hearing the cheers from the different houses as they received new kids—for all of about five minutes, at least. It soon became extraordinarily boring and tedious to sit through. Dan's eyes began to wander again, and they eventually settled upon the boy sitting next to him. He seemed younger than Dan by a few years, fourteen or fifteen at the oldest, and his attention seemed trained entirely on his crotch.

 

This struck Dan as rather unsettling until he realized what the other was doing. Video games. The asshole kid had a 3DS in his lap at a school for magic. Which was supposed to be impossible. Being a half-blood—muggle on his mother’s side—Dan had grown up playing video games with his cousins. He had been crushed when his father had insisted large quantities of concentrated magic interfered with electronics. Meaning consoles wouldn’t work at Beauxbatons, or any other institute of magic.

 

So either this kid was an extremely talented wizard, or Dan’s father had lied massively.

 

Whatever the case, this guy had somehow managed to get this in and keep it working. From the looks of it, he was heavily invested in a gym battle in some Pokemon game. Dan was extremely jealous to say the least. Video games were the one thing he missed the most from the muggle world, and this one asshole managed to do what Dan had wanted to be able to do for the past six years. He nudged the boy next to him.

 

“What the hell, is that a 3DS?”

 

The younger boy jumped a but at the sound of Dan’s harsh whisper. He turned away from the handheld console and nodded.

 

“Yeah. You know what a 3DS is?”

 

“Half-blood. I haven’t seen one of those in years, dude.”

 

The kid smiled proudly, clutching the small device close.

 

“Name’s Ray. You?”

 

* * *

 

Dan was too preoccupied to notice that he wasn't the only one whose focus had drifted from the sorting ceremony. From the Ravenclaw table, a sixth year couldn’t look away from the new guy. Arin Hanson's focus was entirely zeroed in on him. Hogwarts didn’t often get students transferring from other schools, and from the buzz on the train, it seemed like the guy was from France.

 

He just looked so out of place, Arin considered. The robes he wore, new and trimmed with yellow, nearly swallowed his lanky frame. And his hair. It looked as if someone had charmed it to stay in a constantly frizzy state.

 

“Hey, you alright man?”  

 

Arin quickly turned to face his friend Barry, who wore a look of mild concern.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, why’d you ask?”

 

“You’ve been staring at the Hufflepuffs for like, the entire sorting ceremony.”

 

Arin fought to school his expression to one of confusion. In all honesty, he hadn’t even realized he had been blatantly gawking.

 

“What are you talking about? No I wasn’t.”

 

“Uh, yeah you were.”  
  


“No, I wasn’t.”

 

“Yes you--you know what, nevermind. Be weird, I don’t even care.”

 

The two glared at each other for a moment before dissolving into quiet laughter. Barry dropped the subject and returned his gaze to the front of the Great Hall. Now self-conscious, Arin followed suit, resisting the temptation to turn back toward the intriguing new kid.


	2. Chapter 2

“—First years, please follow your Prefects as they show you to your dormitories. Classes begin bright and early tomorrow morning.”

With that, the Headmistress, Professor Polaris, clapped her hands together, dismissing the students. The Great Hall was quickly filled with the sound of benches scraping across the stone floor as students rushed to stand, eager to make their way back to the dorms they so lovingly would call home for the next year. The Prefects shouted out, attempting to establish some sort of order in the overarching chaos as they did their best to call the students into lines and groups with various levels of success. Arin grinned as Barry attempted to herd the new Ravenclaws without much luck, delighted once more that he had escaped the responsibilities of Prefect. Arin, ignoring the various yells, began making his way to Ravenclaw Tower.

As a group of third years stopped in the middle of the doorway, Arin sighed and looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Suzy and Ross. The two Slytherins had promised to meet up with him at breakfast the next morning, but it was always nice to chat. Even now that things with Suzy were getting a little…

Arin’s train of thought froze when he noticed the new Hufflepuff a ways away. The guy looked composed enough, but the Ravenclaw was familiar enough with anxiety to recognize the signs of someone being utterly lost and confused. So, without much more thought, the sixth year began to fight through the crowds to greet the poor bastard.

“Hey, new guy—” Arin called out above the roar of the other students. The frizzy-haired Hufflepuff turned at the sound of his voice, eyes wide in minor panic.  _Smooth_ , Arin thought to himself,  _way to make a first impression._

 

Nearly tripping over the Gryffindor first years, Arin finally reached the transfer. He was much taller close up—though Arin was pretty tall himself—and, if it was even possible, his hair looked even more unruly up close. Godric, it was like the kid didn’t even own a comb.

“Uh, hi?” the presumably-combless new guy replied. It took Arin a moment to process the other boy had spoken.

“You’re, uh, the new guy, yeah?” he continued lamely. The other nodded warily, eyebrows raised in total bafflement.

“No, I’m just that guy who didn't bother to show up for classes for the past six years,” he finally said. Arin couldn’t help but huff out a short laugh. What the hell was making him so mixed up talking to this guy?

“Fuck, I’m exhausted, sorry I sound so rude and shit. I’m Arin—Hanson. Ravenclaw, sixth year.” He extended a hand. The other guy looked at it for a few moments before meeting it with his own, a smile spreading across his face.

“Dan Avidan. Hufflepuff, seventh year, I guess. It’s kind of been a rough few days.” The guy—Dan—looked wrecked upon closer inspection. If anything, he appeared grateful for Arin’s introduction. Heavy bags sagged underneath his eyes, but a warm glow seemed to radiate from his gaze.

“I figured. You looked kind of, lost,” Arin said, feeling a bit awkward. Dan simply sighed and nodded slightly.

“You don’t know the half of it.”

The two stood in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments. The hall continued to clear out, students finally making their way to the dormitories. Arin suppressed a cough and wondered if this had been a mistake, maybe he was being way to fucking weird, or else—

A tap on Arin’s shoulder brought him back to reality. He turned to see Dan looking more anxious than he had before.

“Uh, kind of awkward, but I don’t know where my dormitory is?” the older student asked in an uncertain voice. Arin relaxed, smiling.

“Don’t worry about it, dude, I can get you there.”

With that, the younger student motioned for Dan to follow him and moved toward the entrance to the Great Hall.

“How do you know how to get to the Hufflepuff dorms, anyway?” Dan questioned a while later as the two walked down the emptied corridors, “From what I can tell, it’s supposed to be a secret or something.”

“Perks of having a Prefect as one of your friends. He’s very easy to get information out of.” Images of Barry desperately trying to keep well-guarded Hogwarts secrets from him popped up in Arin’s mind, making him laugh to himself. Dan turned to look at him, smile stretched across his lips.

“Alright, whatever you say, man,” he murmurred. The two continued in silence for the rest of the journey to the lower floor.

* * *

“I really hope they told you how to get in there.”

Dan stared at the stack of overly-large barrels in front of the wall, tucked into a corner next to a very realistic painting of a bowl of fruit.

“Well, it looks like Professor Polaris told me it would,” the seventh year said, moving toward the barrels. He paused and turned to face Arin, taking in the younger’s appearance once more. Silken brown tufts of hair curled around the Ravenclaw’s forehead, styled short. Much more manageable than the cursed frizz of his own hair.

“See something you like, new guy?”

Dan laughed as Arin smirked at him.

“I’m good, thanks. Just thinking that you might not have the privilege to see the most secret Hufflepuff common room. At least, not before I have.” The two chuckled, and Dan fleetingly wondered if his other housemates were either dreadfully slow or already inside.

“I’ll leave you to your barrels,” Arin conceded, nodding to the far wall behind Dan, “But hey, before I go, if you wanna have breakfast with me and a few of my friends tomorrow, you’re more than welcome to sit with us.”

Dan smiled at the almost nervous tone of the other boy’s voice. He wasn’t sure what Arin had to be nervous about—the Ravenclaw had been the first to interact with him freely, so Dan had no reason to harbor anything other than gratitude toward him.

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Arin looked relieved, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

“Awesome. See you tomorrow, then, Dan.”

“See you tomorrow,” Dan replied. Arin gave him another smile before venturing back to the staircase at the end of the corridor.

Dan sighed and turned back to the barrels, counting two from the bottom and toward the middle of the second row.  

* * *

It was an ungodly hour in the morning and Dan couldn’t sleep. The heavy patchwork quilt draped over the bed felt stifling, and the curtains of the four poster were too much like a cage for Dan’s sanity. The boy huffed and turned over once more, closing his eyes.

He tried to picture his old dormitory at Beauxbatons, walls a tasteful wash of white and powder blue. Everything was bright and elegant and so not like this. This was cozy and overstuffed and filled with coppers and yellows and a distinct lack of recognizable snoring. Whatever would his old roommates think if he owled them about missing their  _snoring_.

If they even bothered to read his mail.

Not for the first time, Dan felt a tight pull of dread twist in the pit of his stomach. Ever since he had announced his scheduled departure from France, his old friends had withdrawn more and more. Over the summer, none of his owls had been returned. His mother tried to assure him that things just took time, that they would come around, but Dan knew better. He felt stupid, having assumed that the people he had known since childhood would actually care about his wellbeing enough to talk to him once in a blue moon.

Dan wondered what things would be like if his father were still employed by the French Ministry. He would be tucked away in a familiar bed, surrounded by familiar sights and sounds and not the dull rainy hills of Scotland.

For several hours, the seventh year weaved in and out of consciousness. His dreams tumbled from his memory fairly quickly, a figure with bright eyes and cropped brown hair the only image that remained.

Finally fed up, Dan pulled back the curtains from his four poster and climbed out of bed. The other boys in the dormitory were apparently undisturbed, their beds remaining silent and still. Dan quickly pulled on his robes and journeyed out into the common room. As expected, the circular room, bathed in warm golden light, was empty. The roaring fire from the previous night had been extinguished, and the plush armchairs had been pushed back to their original positions.

The large grandfather clock propped by the window read seven. Struggling to remember what time Professor Polaris had told him classes began, Dan slipped through the short tunnel at the far end of the room. He emerged behind the stacks of barrels from the previous night and straightened out, back cracking slightly.

Now, to find his way back down to the Great Hall.

* * *

Dan had to have been wandering through the corridors for an hour before someone found him. After stepping off the same staircase for the third time, a friendly voice sounded from behind him.

“Lost?”

“Very,” Dan admitted, spinning around. A boy that looked about his age approached him. He recognized the blue trimming and eagle crest on his robes as Ravenclaw.

“No problem, it’s a nightmare getting around this place on a good day, and I’ve been here for seven years. I’m Barry, by the way,” the student greeted. Dan smiled and accepted the other’s extended hand.

“Dan—but I guess literally everyone knows who I am by now.”

“Yeah, pretty much. News travels fast at Hogwarts,” said Barry, “No one’s said anything bad about you, if you’re worried about that. It’s just that we don’t get very many transfer students, especially from overseas.” He trailed off awkwardly, voice hanging in the empty air.

For a moment, Dan wished desperately to be back at Beauxbatons. He hated being the center of attention, and he assumed he would be hard pressed to be anything beside that the entire year.

“You look like a guy who needs some breakfast,” Barry said, appearing to notice his faux pas. Dan was grateful for the backtracking.

“I was trying to find the Great Hall, but I think the damn place moved or something.”

“No, that would be the staircases. Careful about those, you have to pay attention when you’re moving or you may end up trapped behind a wall.”

Dan glanced quickly at the set of stairs to his immediate right.

“Anyway, let’s get moving.”

Barry moved with an air of nurturing about him. He continued to talk Dan’s ear off the entire trip to the Great Hall, pointing out various landmarks and locations along the way. Dan kept quiet, but was content to, at any rate. Barry informed Dan that he was a Prefect and was often helping first years find their way around. Dan wasn’t entirely sure how he felt being compared to a scared eleven year old, but he supposed free assistance wasn’t something to turn his nose at just yet.

When they reached the grand oak doors of the Great Hall, Barry paused a bit awkwardly. It seemed like he wasn’t sure whether he should ditch Dan or invite him along to eat.

“Thank you so much,” the Hufflepuff said, giving Barry an easy out, “I’ll find you if I have any more questions.”

“Alright, sounds good,” Barry replied with a kind smile. With that, the Ravenclaw continued into the Great Hall, walking casually toward the tables. Dan took a moment to look around, wondering momentarily if he should go sit at the Hufflepuff table. A call from further in the hall caught his attention, however.

“Dan, hey! Over here!”

Arin waved at him from the Ravenclaw table, a spoon in one hand. Dan smiled and headed toward him.

“Look who actually found his way back. I have to say, I’m impressed.”

“Actually, I had a bit of help—” Dan replied, taking the empty space next to Arin and noticing who was on the sixth year’s other side, “—from him.”

Barry smiled and waved from behind a rather large stack of waffles. Arin grinned a bit madly and went to say something, but was cut off by the students on the other side of the table.

“Thanks for introducing us to your new friend, Arin.”

It was the girl Dan had noticed during the sorting ceremony at the Slytherin table. Her distinct hair was easily identifiable, even with all the new faces Dan had been encountering over the past day.

“Oh, right,” Arin muttered, “Sorry. Dan, this is Suzy Berhow, she’s a Slytherin fifth year. And the asshole sitting next to her is Ross O’Donovan, Slytherin sixth year.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Ross said around a mouthful of corn flakes. Suzy shot him a disapproving look, then smiled sweetly at Dan.

“You’re the transfer from Beauxbatons, right?”

“That would be me, yeah.” Dan supposed he should get used to that particular question.

“That’s wicked, mate,” Ross said, finally swallowing, “France sounds great.”

Before Dan could reply, a figure appeared over his shoulder.

“Hi Professor Dunkelman!”

The tall blonde woman behind Dan smiled at the girl and gave her a small wave.

“Morning, Suzy, Ross, Arin,” she said, nodding in the direction of each student, “And you must be Dan. Welcome to Hogwarts!” Her voice was casual and excited, sounding more like a student than a professor.

“Thank you, Professor.”

“I’m the head of Hufflepuff, and teach Transfiguration. I have your schedule for you,” Professor Dunkelman said, handing Dan a clean sheet of parchment, “If you have any questions, just drop by my room.” With a firm nod, she marched toward the Hufflepuff table, robes fluttering behind her. **  
**

 

Apparently the Ravenclaw head of house, Professor Haywood, had already passed out his student’s schedules. Meaning that Dan’s was quickly ripped from his hands by Arin.

 

“Hey, what the hell—”

 

“Sweet, we have Muggle Arts together,” Arin said before shoving Dan’s schedule to Barry. The Prefect rolled his eyes but glanced over the parchment before handing it back to the Hufflepuff.

 

“And you’ve got Ancient Runes with me,” he added. Dan happily read over his schedule, noticing several free periods. As Beauxbatons had a different curriculum, Dan had gotten out of taking several classes he had already completed in years previous.  

 

Breakfast passed in a flood of chatter and owl post. As expected, Dan’s father had sent his greetings, assuring his son that his new position was as exciting as promised. As nine o’clock crept closer, Dan excused himself from the table to get to his first class—Transfiguration—with time to spare.

“Meet back here for lunch, yeah?” Arin asked, eyes meeting Dan’s. The older boy nodded and said his goodbyes to the others before exiting the Great Hall. As he wandered through the corridor, Dan remembered the faint shapes of his hollow dreams the previous night. It had been Arin’s eyes on that strange figure, he was sure of it. 

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah the rooster teeth people are professors so what i never asked for this life


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the bit of delay on this chapter, work caught up to the both of us. Thanks for all the kind words and kudos, you all are awesome!

Hogwarts was, in many ways, exceedingly similar to Beauxbaton, while strikingly different in others. The classes and curriculum seemed much the same, yet from what he had seen thus far, the teachers at Hogwarts were so much more relaxed than they had been at his old school. Hogwarts was simply a more homey place than Beauxbaton ever had been. While Dan did miss his old friends and the familiar, unchanging halls of his previous school, there was something warm and inviting about Hogwarts that made him feel much more comfortable than he ever had been previously.

Much to his surprise, Dan managed to find his way to his first class of the day, Transfiguration, rather easily. Maybe he was getting better at navigating, though he assumed that, given his luck, he would be perpetually lost wandering the dim halls.

With time to spare, he tentatively entered the room, hoping it was the right one. He was relieved to see a few students scattered about the room as well as the thin blonde woman who had given him his schedule earlier that morning. _Professor Dunkelman, that was her name_ , he thought to himself, remembering her introduction.

He glanced around the classroom nervously, unsure of where to sit. Eventually, he chose a spot close to the back and did his best to sit down as quietly as possible. He spent a long time looking around the room, seeing as he had close to fifteen minutes to take his surroundings in.

The room was quite spacious, looking like it could fit plenty of students, and was primarily made of stone. The expansive emptiness and material together caused the soft whispers of the students to reverberate off the walls, hushed murmurs indecipherable but loud at the same time. It made the atmosphere all that more unsettling.

Wire cages were scattered about the room, some suspended from the ceiling, others setting on desks. Each cage held a different creature, both magical that he couldn't place and normal animals. He assumed these would be the creatures that they would practice on. The idea sent a shiver through his spine. Sure, he had done magic on living creatures before, but there was _something_ about it that continued to make him ever so slightly uncomfortable.

As it came closer to the time for class to start, more students began trickling in, the additional noise of speaking and movement pulled Dan out of his thoughts. The desks, which were made for two people to be seated at, were quickly filling. Dan was worried he would be stuck alone with no partner for the entirety of the year, but his fears were quickly extinguished when someone tapped his shoulder. Turning, he realized it was Barry.

“Mind if I sit here?” he asked Dan.

Dan, relieved that he wouldn't be working by himself, nodded eagerly. Making friends had never really been a problem for Dan in the past. Actually, he was usually rather outgoing. There was something about his whole life changing that had pushed him out of his comfort zone and under a veil of sheepishness. For some reason, he was too concerned with embarrassing himself to really connect with anyone else.

Dan sighed quietly to himself, wishing he could understand why he was so nervous. He wasn't given much time to think in complete circles, though, as class started soon after Barry placed himself next to Dan. Professor Dunkelman put away some papers she had been scribbling away on and turned towards the class.

“Morning!” she said in an extremely cheery tone, her voice pleasant and filled with genuine excitement, “I'm Professor Dunkelman, welcome to your final year of Transfiguration!” She soon began rattling off what she expected to teach them within the year, reminding them all that the real world would be upon them soon enough. It sounded a bit overwhelming to Dan, but nothing beyond manageable.

The class went by quickly, with much scribbling of basic notes on review material and ended with Professor Dunkelman promising more exciting classes to come.

“I may be a Professor,” she said in her bubbly tone, “but don't worry, I remember how boring classes could be when I was a student.” And with that, the first Transfiguration class of the year was dismissed by the distant sound of a gonging bell.

The next two classes went much the same for Dan. Taking notes and listening to the teachers talk about their lesson plans for the rest of the year, while easy, was rather boring. Though this was what was to be assumed of the first day in class, he assumed. Muggle Studies, which was taught by a bearded man who seemed to prefer that the class refer to him as “Miles” rather than “Professor Luna” seemed promising. He, much like Professor Dunkelman, was young and still excited about his subject. His third class of the day, Potions, seemed like a more enjoyable subject with a less enjoyable teacher. The potions master, Professor Hullum, seemed nice enough, but came off rather dry in his teaching.

As soon as his potions class came to an end, Dan found himself rushing out to lunch. While he had done his best to pay attention to his morning classes, he found his mind continually drifting back to his new group of acquaintances. He wasn't sure if he could call them friends yet, but he had already grown rather attached to them. _Specifically Arin_ , he thought to himself. It seemed preposterous that he already wanted to claim the sixth year as his best friend, but there was something about him that Dan just… really liked. A lot.

 

* * *

Pushing through the crowded corridors of the school, he eventually made his way back to the Great Hall. While the halls were still winding and confusing and the staircases were proving to be extremely inconvenient, he was beginning to get the hang of them.

Once in the Great Hall, he was posed with a new problem: finding where Arin, Barry, and the rest of the group was. He spent a moment looking around, doing his best to keep out of the way of the other students trying to enter. Although he tried, he still managed to get run into rather hard; hard enough that he fell to the floor, the weight of another student on top of him.

Dan hadn't been carrying anything other than a quill and a few pieces of parchment, so he hadn't dropped much. He heard a plethora of scattered apologies as he stood up, the obviously younger student who had run into him picking up Dan's dropped belongings. Once the younger student (a Ravenclaw, Dan deduced) finished picking up his belongings, he thrust the messy pile into Dan's hands and gave him yet another quiet, “sorry….”

Dan couldn't help but chuckle at how concerned the smaller boy looked.

“It's fine man, no worries,” he smiled, absentmindedly straightening up his papers. Before the Ravenclaw could run away, Dan stopped him with a question. “Hey, dude, do you know where Arin is?” he asked, remembering Arin was in his house, and, assuming that this guy looked far too old to be a first year, he was probably at least acquainted with him.

“Um, yeah,” he said nervously. “Last year he sat at the Slytherin table at lunch, I think.”

Dan smiled and nodded. “Thanks man,” he replied, trying to sound as not-intimidating as possible, being as this poor kid still looked like he expected to be hit. His grin and tone managed to get him a weak smile and wave in response. He'd have to ask someone who that guy was later...

He soon went back to visually searching for Arin. He hadn't really realized it, but looking for Barry or Ross or anyone else who he was expecting to sit with had more or less left his mind. He was now searching almost exclusively for Arin.

And Arin he did find, sitting towards the end of the Slytherin table, almost out of Dan's sight from where he was standing. Dan smiled to himself as he went to sit with them.

“Hey man!” Arin smiled, food in his mouth. “Almost thought you were gonna bail on us.”

Dan shook his head. “Nah, I just couldn't find where you guys were sitting, I had to ask someone...”

One of the Slytherin girls—Suzy, he remembered—was laughing.

“What?!” Dan asked, defensively.

“I thought Hufflepuffs were supposed to be excellent finders,” she snorted. “How many times have you been lost today? Two, three? Are you sure you were sorted right?”

Dan huffed indignantly. “Beauxbatons was _much_ easier to navigate,” he grumbled.

“Ooh, bringing the rival school into this,” Ross taunted sarcastically.

“Oh fuck off,” Dan laughed.

From there, conversation deteriorated into talking about classes, other students, plans, and how exactly they were going to manage to scrape by this year. Lunch flew by rather quickly, and Dan was finding it easier to think of the people around him as friends.

 

* * *

As lunch drew to an end, they all went their separate ways. Almost all of them, that is. Dan found himself walking the same way as Arin down the long corridors, and he couldn't remember whether he and the underclassman shared their next hour or not.

Arin must have been wondering the same thing, because it seemed like no sooner than Dan had though it, Arin spoke up. “What class do you have next?”

“Muggle Arts,” Dan replied without even having to look at the crumpled piece of parchment that he had long ago shoved into his pocket.

“That's right, same,” Arin smiled. Dan felt his heart beat a little too fast for his liking. He had a class with Arin. Danny couldn't quite place why he felt so nervous about sharing a class with Arin, but there was no doubt that he did. He couldn't help but smile back at Arin though; his happiness was almost contagious.

Once the pair made their way to Muggle Arts, Arin insisted on sitting right next to Dan. Dan had a harder time paying attention to Professor Risinger than he had with his other three teachers. He didn't blame the Professor, no, he had a feeling that his distractedness was caused most largely in part by the student to his right.

Throughout the entirety of class, Arin doodled little pictures on a piece of parchment, occasionally showing them to Dan. Most of them were cartoons, many of them of the various teachers and Headmistress Polaris. Arin was a really good artist. And Dan really liked that.

Dan himself had always been more partial to music, but Hogwarts didn't offer any music classes that would have fit into his schedule well. Thus, he was stuck with Muggle Arts. At the time, he had been a bit indifferent to the class. Now he couldn't tell if he loved it or loathed it.

Sitting next to Arin shouldn't have been so ridiculously distracting. Even when the Ravenclaw wasn't doing anything, the older student found himself zoning out Professor Risinger. As if Dan hadn't had a hard enough time that morning not thinking about Arin. When he was sitting right the fuck next to him, it was even more difficult to pay attention.

Once the class was finally dismissed, Arin and Dan parted ways. Dan felt both relieved and a bit lonely. As he walked through the halls to his final class of the day, he couldn't help but think: was this a crush? To his knowledge, Dan was super hetero. Straighter than a ruler level. His previous years at Beauxbatons had been filled with a fair number of flirtatious French girls that seemed to have accepted all the stereotypes. Needless to say, the half-blood had not been all that bored.

But there was just something about Arin. He just, really liked him. He'd known him, what, almost twenty-four hours now? And he was already staring at him when he was nearby and daydreaming about him when he wasn't. It was a problem, and Dan felt supremely confused.

Not only was he stuck at a new school with new people and a whole new life to get used to, but now he was popping an emotional boner for some guy he barely knew. The most concerning part of the whole ordeal?

Dan wasn't even sure that he minded it.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the playlist for this story: [HERE!](http://8tracks.com/plaidshirt/forget-tomorrow)


End file.
